Bedtime Story III
by B.A. Tyler
Summary: Erin Hunnicutt asks her dad to tell her another story about the folks from the village of Mashland. Spoilers for "Out of Sight, Out of Mind."


**Bedtime Story III****  
**

B.J. sat next to his daughter on the bed and looked at the book he'd picked randomly from her stash. _The Velveteen Rabbit._ He'd read this one to her at least half dozen times already. Sighing, he opened to the first page and resolved to try to make it as fresh as if it were the first reading.

"I don't wanna hear that story, Daddy," Erin said, eyeing the cover of the book. "I've heard that one. Can't you tell me another story about Mashland? That's what I wanna hear."

Truth be told, B.J. was in no mood for the umpteenth rendering of _The Velveteen Rabbit_, either. He put the book aside and said, "OK, Erin. Just give me a second to think of one."

He searched his memory bank for a few minutes as his daughter waited patiently in silence. Finally a thought came to him and he sat up a little straighter, confident that he had recalled an incident that would make for a very good story indeed.

"Do you remember Sir Ben, Erin? We had a story about him before."

"Oh yes, Daddy. He interrupted a meeting last time, and made everyone feel happier."

"That's right," B.J. agreed. "Well, tonight I have another story about Sir Ben."

"Yay! I like him, Daddy."

"Everyone likes him, Erin. He's one of the good guys." B.J. smiled and watched as his daughter sank into the sheets, getting settled and awaiting her bedtime story. "Once upon a time, in the small, far-away village called Mashland, there was a good guy named Sir Ben. And one night, after most of the people in the village were tucked away in their tents—uh, _houses_, some women friends of Ben's came along and asked him to help them out. They shared a little cottage, these women, and the stove that provided their heat had gone out. They were hoping Sir Ben could come and fix it for them."

Erin nodded to show her understanding, and B.J. went on, "So Ben went over to their cottage and fiddled with the stove, trying to get it to work again. Unfortunately, much to everyone's surprise, the damn—I mean, _dang_ thing exploded—boom!—and the fire burned Ben's eyes. He screamed in pain and the women rushed to his side, but it was too late. He'd been burned, and as a result, he was blinded."

Erin's eyes had grown big and now she gasped. "Blind? He couldn't see anymore?"

"That's right. Pretty scary, huh? But his friends called an eye doctor to come and look at his eyes, and the doctor thought it was possible he would get his sight back after a few days. There was no guarantee, but Sir Ben and all of his friends hoped things would turn out OK." Erin seemed to relax a little at this news. "So for the next couple of days, Ben had to walk around with bandages covering his eyes, and he always needed someone with him, to help him get his meals and make sure he didn't walk into things… someone to be his eyes. He took it all in stride, though, continuing to help people even though he couldn't see, and he even had fun, making jokes like he always did. You might think that being blind would've made him sad, but he didn't seem to be sad at all."

"I know _I_ would feel sad, if that happened to me," Erin pointed out.

"You bet. But Sir Ben was a very unique person. In fact, at one point, Ben sat down with his best friend, uh… Jay, and he told Jay that there was actually something special about not being able to see. He had listened to a rainstorm, he said, and it was a whole new experience for him… the sounds were more intense, and somehow beautiful. He told Jay that he felt, in a strange way, lucky to find out what it was like to be blind. Of course, he hoped that he would get his sight back, but he was appreciating things that he'd never stopped to consider before. Does that make any sense?" No, B.J. figured, probably not. Too complex an idea for a little girl. Almost too complex for _him_, he thought with an inward smirk. That Hawkeye, always ahead of the curve.

"I think so," Erin said.

"Yeah? Well, good for you. It's kind of hard to imagine how Sir Ben felt and what he was going through. But his friend Jay was very impressed with how he was handling his ordeal." Did his daughter even know the word "ordeal?" Well, she'd get the gist.

"Did the doctor look at his eyes again?"

"Yeah, I'm getting to that part right now. A few days had passed and it was time for the eye doctor to examine Sir Ben again. Everyone gathered around to see what would happen when the bandages came off. Would Ben be able to see again? Or would he have a permanent problem? It seemed like the entire village wanted to know."

"Me too! I wanna know too!"

"Slooowly, slooowly, the bandages were taken off Ben's eyes. And everyone leaned forward, anxious, asking him, 'Well? Well?' And he opened his eyes carefully, and then he smiled, because yes, he could see! His eyes were working again. All of his friends breathed a sigh of relief and slapped him on the back, but nobody was happier than Sir Ben. His life could get back to normal now."

Erin clapped her hands, clearly pleased with the happy ending. "Oh I'm so glad, Daddy. I was worried. Even though he said it was OK being blind, he didn't really want to be, I'll bet."

"I'll bet you're right about that, Erin. Now… what do you think the moral of the story is?"

She seemed to give it some serious thought but then she shrugged. "I don't know, Daddy. It came out OK in the end. Sir Ben wasn't blind forever, and that makes me happy."

"Yes, that was a very good outcome, I agree. Well, what I learned from this story is that, even when a horrible thing happens to you, you can find something good in it. It's all in your attitude. You can choose to be miserable, or you can find something positive in your situation. That was a pretty good thing to learn, I thought."

Erin nodded, shifting a little in her bed. Finally her eyes were getting that glazed look… it wouldn't be long now before she was off in dreamland. B.J. tucked her covers around her. "OK, young miss. You're getting tired, so I'm going to turn out the light now."

"OK, Daddy. Thanks for the story." B.J. kissed her forehead, stood, and flipped off the light switch. "Sir Ben seemed so nice, helping people all the time," Erin mused sleepily in the darkness. "I'll bet he lived happily ever after."

B.J. hesitated in the doorway. "I'll bet he did too," he said in as convincing a tone as he could muster. Yeah, best to go with the happy ending. That's the whole point of fairy tales, after all.


End file.
